![]() ![]() They aren’t perfect and they won’t prevent everyone from getting the virus, but they keep large swaths of people out of the hospital and the morgue. When COVID finally passes, we would be smart to look hard at what worked and what didn’t. States and their residents have agency their behavior can bend the death curve for better and for worse. ![]() The point is that demographics alone don’t have to be destiny. Yes, Maine is a much different state - less densely populated and its residents were more likely to get vaccinated and wear masks, for instance. It also has a much lower percentage of excess deaths. ![]() Maine has an even higher percentage of older residents, and its death rate since the start of the pandemic is nearly half of Florida’s. But it wasn’t inevitable that Florida had to have a higher death rate because of its older population. We all knew that fact going into the pandemic. Of course, it isn’t a secret that Florida has lots of older residents. That said, Florida isn’t alone in its less-than-stellar track record of keeping residents alive during the pandemic. Ron DeSantis announced the first two cases of “novel coronavirus” in Florida, what - if anything - would you have been willing to do differently if you knew that COVID was going to kill 80,000 Floridians? There are studies that suggest the state could have prevented thousands of those deaths. Given the morbid milestone, just how is Florida doing in preventing COVID deaths? The answer likely depends on your political and moral perspective. We want COVID to be over, but the virus has other ideas. The pace ebbs and flows, but the deaths keep coming, about 70 a day in recent weeks. The number reminds us that for more than 2½ years, through lock downs and mask disputes, vaccine rollouts and omicron outbreaks, the virus has taken a wearying toll. Florida recently passed 80,000 COVID deaths. ![]()
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